Monterey Bay Veterans dedicated a new custom dive boat to disabled veterans in a ceremony Tuesday.

The boat named Freedom is aptly named because it is going to give disabled veterans access to the Monterey Bay they haven't had before.

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"I think this is going to change a lot of lives," Dave Riley, National Commander of Disabled American Veterans, said.

Riley traveled from Alabama to do the inaugural dive off Freedom Tuesday morning.

The former Coast Guard rescue swimmer lost all his limbs after contracting a bacterial infection and getting gangrene. Riley said he loves to scuba dive but he has had trouble in the past.

"I was out here about five years ago on the Liberty, and they saw the struggle that I was having getting out of the water, so they had a designer come in and put a lift on this boat," he said.

A platform on the boat's stern works like an elevator, taking veterans down 4 feet in the water so they can easily swim out into the bay and get back on the boat when they are done diving.

Phillip Torie, with the Department of Veterans Affairs, said he already has five local veterans interested in going out on Freedom.

"We're blessed and grateful that we have such generous people in the community, and I appreciate it more and more," he said about the people who helped to make Freedom a reality.

Torie is a certified therapeutic recreation specialist working to get veterans in Monterey and Salinas involved in adaptive sports. He said there are veterans in the area already scuba-certified who can now get out in the bay thanks to Freedom.

Riley encourages disabled veterans to take the opportunity to try scuba diving. He said diving and other sports turned his life around after becoming a quad amputee.

"Adaptive sports gave me the adrenaline back and got me off the couch, and you know my heart and soul is in these programs," he said.

Monterey Bay Veterans has also partnered with Cal State Monterey Bay to use its aquatic facility to teach scuba diving to veterans before they go out on the water.